Legends of Equestria

The wooden planks of the deck squealed like a pained, dying animal as Wills slowly trotted towards the shaft room. The decking was full of holes and was slightly chewed; needless to say, the ship had a mouse problem.

He crawled into the tight fitting elavator shaft, and tugged at the decaying rope to get himself down under the deck. He hated using the shaft; it was claustraphobic, the ropes looked like they would break at any moment, and the actual tunnel itself was too small for the shaft to fit through most of the time. But, despite the everyday strain put on them, the ropes never did break.

The little elavator he was sitting in ground against the walls, making an awful noise that probably woke half the ship up. Unfortunately, half of the ship included them. The horrible beasts would know that he was coming to feed them now, ad would undoubtedly rampaging around in their barred pit, acting as if they were starved.

The elavator came to a jarring stop at the bottom of the shaft, and Wills unlodged himself from  the small space, stumbling out into the dank room. The place was evidently not often visited, as it was damp, covered in cobwebs, and much of its decor was broken or smashed.

Clck clck clck

Yes. The things had heard him, and knew what was coming, rubbing their claws on the bars in anticipation.

He cautiously approached the barred pit on the opposite side of the room, making sure not to get too close to the bars; the things had long arms. Peering over the edge, he noted that two of them were, in fact, at the bars, staring at him with their souless eyes.

Clck clck clck

Wills shivered and, grabbing a piece of hay, tossed it into the pit to top up the monsters bedding.

Like the rest of the room, their pit was damp with dripping water, but was also lined with hay and straw in an attempt to calm them with soft ground. This only worsened the state of the pit, as the hay got damp too. Squinting through the darkness, Wills was able to make out bloodstains on the stone floor and hay, though if this was from a recent meal or the beasts themselves was impossible to say.

Clck clck clck

He walked over to a shelving area besides the pit, making his snout wrinkle. Now he was closer, he could smell the rancid stench of blood and death.

The stallion grimaced as he reached his whole arm into a blue bucket, its contents sloshing around noisily. The beasts in the pit got even more excited, and they began to violently hit at the bars with their huge hands. Seeing how worked up the creatures were, Wills sneered at them. The horrible things had caused him turmoil, so why couldn't he give them a taste of their own medicene?

Only just managing to grasp it, Wills pulled out a large chunk of wet meat from the bucket, the smell permeating the already stuffy, tight room. He shook the dripping meat above the bars, purposely allowing some of the juice to drop onto the beasts, aggravating them greatly, yet at the same time only exciting them further.

Suddenly, both of the creatures simply stopped their assult on the bars, and slowly creeped off into the straw. Wills was apalled by this; he'd wanted to have fun with them, not for them to run away!

With a disgruntled sigh, he moved the meat right to the bars, in hope of attracting the beasts to the scent. “Come on now, things! Wake up and have some dinner!” His calls went unheeded. Unable to bring the bait within sniffing distance of the probably sleeping carnivores, Wills shoved his right arm between the bars, dropping the meat another two feet into the hold.

“I gotta be ready to pull me'self up,” he told himself as he swung the dangling chunk of fattened meat, fresh blood flying from its tip. “I’ve seen how fast they-”

The thought would never be finished. Wills, however, in less than thirty terrifying seconds, would be.

Whether it erupted from the straw bedding or from somewhere else, no one could say- the only witness was dead. Wills, for fear he might drop it, had wrapped the rope attached to the meat twice around his hoof, so when she struck, her weight upon the hook yanked his shoulder clear through the bars, though he had released his hold in the instant of the attack. The rope unwound from his wrist and dropped to the floor, but Wilson ’s shoulder was now wedged in the narrow space between the iron bars. In a voice hoarse with rum and heightened by hysteria, Wilson cried for someone, anyone, to pull him up. Did he see it in the murk below? Did its black, soulless eyes, glowing in the light of a dying sun, meet his before the slathering mouth yawned wide and it leaped twenty feet straight up?

Nobody would ever know.

Unfortunately for him, Wills would know exactly what was happening, whilst it was happening.

The beasts all leapt up at him, pulling at his limbs and forcing him throuh the small gaps between bars. One part of him went through several different gaps, as he was pulled apart by the creatures. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was the fact that they were devouring him alive. He felt every moment of it, every snapping bone, every rip of the flesh. He prayed that the embrace of death would come soon.

In a mere fourty seconds, there was no trace of Wills besides the blood, soaking both the pits and the rooms floor.

Having once again tasted pony flesh, they felt energised. They were stronger and faster than before; smarter, too, now with a little pony brainpower inside them. The leader examined the bloodstained floor with a strangely ponylike curiosity in its eyes. Looking up at the rusted bars, that look evolved into an almost malevont shine. He knew how to get out. With his newfound strength, the leader of the creatures smashed through the bars with little effort.

They escaped into the small room, smashing shelves and tables, devouring the vast quantities of food. With every new meal, they grew a little larger. With every live meal, they aslo grew smarter and stronger.

The only thing standing between them and a whole ship of smart, strong and live ponies was an elavator shaft.

Clck clck clck